Pierre Dorion optimistic as Senators open season

While this is only the first stage of the makeover of the Ottawa Senators by general manager Pierre Dorion, he’s confident the group he’s assembled, with as many as 11 new faces in the lineup for Thursday night’s opener against the Chicago Blackhawks at home, can take a step in the right direction.

Though many believe the Senators can’t be much worse than they were last season when they finished 30th overall, Dorion, heading into his third season as the club’s GM, is hopeful the injection of youth along the veterans that are still here can get the job done.

The buzzword around here is going to be “progression” and when Dorion speaks about what he wants to see this year he leans heavily on the term because this roster doesn’t look anything like last year with captain Erik Karlsson and winger Mike Hoffman among those dealt in the off-season.

“Progression is a broad word,” Dorion told Postmedia in a one-on-one interview as the club’s two-day retreat wrapped up Tuesday at Mont Tremblant. “Progression is something we’re looking at for this team.

“After last year we’re looking to move forward from what happened and let’s progress. We want to see progression in the play of the veterans, the play of the kids and in the team unity. We want to see (it) in our special teams, how we play a team defensive game but, at the same time, play a team offensive game.”

Sounds simple, right? Well, it may be easier said than done. The Senators can’t just flick a switch and compete for a playoff spot in the spring, however, they’ve decided to change the channel which means everybody here is getting a fresh start.

So, how do they fill the void left by Karlsson’s departure for the Sharks?

“If it’s a captaincy thing we have a lot of leaders and the leaders can emerge as a group and that’s always a good thing,” Dorion said. “As far as replacing the player, that’s not going to happen. He’s a great player but at the same time we have guys that can show we can divide his minutes pretty well.

“Guys like Chris Wideman and Thomas Chabot are ready to take a step, (Cody) Ceci has always been able to handle tougher minutes and (Mark Borowiecki) can take a step along with Dylan DeMelo. We feel very comfortable with the guys on back end to take some of those minutes away.”

The Senators have opted not to name a captain and they’ll go with four alternates. This is Dorion’s decision and he doesn’t want to rush it because he wants to get it right. Mark Stone and Matt Duchene are the full-time alternates while Zack Smith and Borowiecki will share an ‘A’.

The wait is intentional.

“A lot of times a captain can develop himself from within,” Dorion said. “Some teams feel when a captain leaves they need to name one right away. This is just a natural evolution to see who the next captain (can be) and we’re in no rush to do so.”

Dorion wasn’t going to get into contract discussions with Duchene and Stone, who are both unrestricted free agents on July 1, but they know what direction this organization is going to take and it’s all been spelled out for them.

“All the key guys have been told what the plan was, what the plan is and that we’d like to have them as part of our group moving forward,” said Dorion. “They all know we want them part of our long-term success.”

The Senators will rely heavily on the veteran they have left to lead the way because it’s going to be difficult for this team to compete if they don’t.

“They have to be good soldiers, lead by example with good work ethic and great team play. If we do that we’ll be good,” Dorion said.

On the ice, the Senators need to get better goaltending from Craig Anderson and Mike Condon, but Dorion wants to see a better commitment to play good defence. It’s an area coach Guy Boucher and his staff worked on a lot in camp and it has to be better or this club stands zero chance of winning.

“At times, the goalies are the last line of defence, but strong defensive play comes from commitment to doing the little things right. If we do that as a group I think you’ll see better goaltending and less goals against,” Dorion said.

The fact Boucher and his staff are in the final year of their contracts will be a challenge for them to show they can push the right buttons. They did a lot of soul-searching and full review before deciding to bring the coaching staff back.

“The relationship has never been stronger between management and the coaching staff. We’re on the same page,” said Dorion. “People have asked me about this and it worked well for Barry Trotz last year and I think it’s going to work well for the Ottawa Senators this year.”

There will be no shortage of youth on the roster. No, top pick Brady Tkachuk won’t suit up because of a nagging injury, but he will get his chance along with rookies Alex Formeton and Colin White. Defenceman Maxime Lajoie will start the season here but he remains in a battle for a job.

“The integration of the young players on our roster has been one of the best surprises of camp,” he said. “We want to put those players in situations where they won’t fail and it will their careers but also help the team win.

“Right now, we feel the progression of these players is good and we’re just hopeful they’re on the right path and they can continue growing with this team.”

But Dorion won’t commit to the likes of Tkachuk and Formenton being here all year because there’s a lot of factors involved. Both have junior eligibility and if their play starts to fall or they’re having trouble getting ice then Dorion isn’t going to sit back to watch them struggle.

“I’m not big on hypothetical questions. Let’s just look at how they play through the first (part of the season) and then we’ll assess the situation with them,” Dorion said. “We don’t want to put them in a situation where they won’t keep on progressing and we can’t see development from them.

“It’s all right to develop at the NHL level as long as you keep contributing. Kids shouldn’t be here if they’re not going to play. You can play to a certain degree and sometimes you might need to sit out but having a young player here not playing for a long period of time is definitely not going to happen this year.”

Dorion is happy with the way camp unfolded and is ready to get the regular season under way.

“I’m really pleased about the effort and the togetherness of the team,” Dorion said. “The coaches have done a great job but, more importantly, the players have really responded and we’ve had a really good camp.”

The Senators know there’s a lot of negativity surrounding this team and they’re going to ignore the noise.

“They’re NHL players, they’re as professional as they come. For all of us, our job is to be professionals, we’re in the NHL and when things don’t go well we’re going to get criticized. We have to be able to handle the criticism but I think you grow from adversity and that’s what we’re hoping to do,” Dorion said.

And, the decision to bring the players to Tremblant was to promote the fact this group will have to stick together through thick and thin

“We’re looking to move forward and this is a fresh start because there were so many changes in the off-season,” Dorion said. “I alluded to our dressing room (being) broken so for us to move forward this was important and critical for us to do this as a team.

“The slate is wiped clean. We’re starting from new. We hope people can get excited about this team because we definitely are.”

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